Question:
I was once speaking to a huge talmid chacham, who has a vast knowledge of yedios hatorah but is not a Moreh Horeh, regarding making an early shabbos . He said that he doesn’t make an early shabbos and one of the reasons he doesn’t make it is based on the Radak in Yeshayahu 58:13 on the posuk V’chebadto M’asos Derechecha. The Radak explain the Gemara that the food for Shabbos should be different from the week, it means to change the time that one eats to later or earlier This person said that no one makes a plag minyan on Fridays in the winter. It is only done in the summer because of convenience. The kids normally eat supper at 7 during the week, so they daven early in order to have supper as close to that time as possible. People are not interested in starting their Shabbos Seudah at 9:00 at night, so they start Shabbos early.
I am wondering if this Radak is brought down as a halachic reason not to make early Shabbos. We don’t necessarily pasken based off a Radak in Nach. And it is hard to say that something that has been accepted in most of KlaI Yisroel is wrong. I know Rav Moshe talks about about the wife not being bound by the husband’s kabolas Shabbos due to the fact that it is done out of convenience. But he doesn’t say that one shouldn’t make an early Shabbos because of convenience. Are there any poskim that use this Radak as a reason not to make early Shabbos? Thanks
Answer:
I haven’t seen any poskim that bring this as a reason, and I am sure that such a big talmid chacham is surely not doing it because of the obvious halachic reasons, and not solely because of this reason.
Even according to the Radak, even if you do make an early Shabbos, and you are eating earlier than you would if you ate when it is already night, you are still not eating at the same time as you do during the week. Besides, we might also say the following. Are we going to be careful not to make Kiddush during the winter time when it happens to coincide with the regular supper time during the week? We aren’t, because now we are eating the meal because it is the beginning of Shabbos, not because it is supper time. In that case eating after we daven Maariv and were mekabel Shabbos is the time of the meal, not at supper time.
